Drag & Drop from Spotlight in Mac OS X

You can drag and drop files directly from Spotlight to elsewhere in the OS X Finder. To try it out, use Command+Space to search for something, then click and hold on the item while dragging it out of the Spotlight menu.

Default behavior moves the file from it’s source location to the new destination, but if you hold own the Option key during the process you can make a copy of the file instead. To undo the location change, hit Command+Z.

This can be much faster than digging around in the file system to locate a document or folder manually, especially with files buried far within subfolders. OS X Lion or later is required to use drag and drop in Spotlight.

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Editor:
Please note: “it’s” is the contraction of “it is.” It is NOT the possessive form of it (like “his,” “her”). Thus, one doesn’t write “it’s book” when meaning “the book belonging to it.” One writes, “its book.”